Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-02-03
THE CARE OF THE EYES.
A Few Simple Rules Which All
Should Follow.
I. THE HYGIENE OF THE EYES.

I. THE HYGIENE OF THE EYES.
What have to say on this subject
may be reduced to half dozen rules
none of them hard to follow, unless it
be the last of them but one.
l. My first rule is, in reading, have
light enough for easy vision. How
much light is enoughp How much is
too much? These are questions for the
individual. No two persons require
the same brightness upon the page.
Some eyes are timid of light, and can
stand but little of it, while yet they
may be depended on for good many
hours work in the day and for good
many years service. Strong eyes,
those that will bear the glare, are not
infrequently those that run the greatest
risk of abuse; just as the persons who
have excellent digestions or great 9TH
letic powers are constantly tempted to
over-exercise them and to break them
down, while weaker persons who take
care of themselves will outlast the
strong. Comfort in reading is the
main criterion.
The main temptation is to strain the
eyes in reading when the light is in
sufficient. This must be strenuously
resisted if the retina is to be kept in
good working order. Less light is re-
quired in writing than in reading, be-
cause the trained movements of the
hand are in large part automatic, and
in considerable degree independent of
the eyesight; the experience of the
blind shows how easily they may
be made entirely Independent.
But it is precisely the experience of
the blind that we wish, in our own per-
sons, to avoid. Let us, therefore, allow
ourselves quite enough light in every
case; more in reading, less, if need be
in writing; but enough in each and
every case. In q mountain camp, by a
tallow candle, you might well enough
write letter without straining your
eyesight; while it might fatigue your
eyes to read the same letter after you
had written it.
2. Either in reading or writing, the
direction of the light is important. 1t
will not do to read against the light,
l. G., with the light in your face, be-
cause then the direct glare contends
upon the retina with the fainter image
of the object. The light should fall
from behind; and there is choice as
to which side. At least in writing, it
should come from behind the left shoul-
der, because then the shadow of the
hand falls away from the pen
instead of upon it, Every writer
does not know this, or at least does not
bear it in mind. / knew literary man
who had written prose and poetry all
his life, and who was in the habit, until
showed him his mistake, of letting the
light fall from his right shoulder-in
this case the wrong sheHider-epon mis-
paper; he had sat in his own light for
thirty years. 1t must have affected the
quality of his poetry. In reading, un-
less your eyes are protected by shade
and shade is an excellent thing
let the daylight or the candle-light fall
upon your page from behind, whenever
YOU can conveniently manageit, by turn
ing your chair or by choosing the posi-
ton of the lamp. Nothing is more try
ing than reading against the glare, un-
less it be reading by the twilight
a great temptation to some enthusiastic
students.
8. When the sunlight fails, do not de-
pend upon the twilight, and do moi
combine gas-light or lamp-light witt
the twilight. Unmixed light is always
the best, whether it be solar, or electric
or from any other artificial source. The
improved electric lights will prove {
great boon to students, especially tC
summer students, not only on account
of their pure and steady illumination
but because they neither heat the all
farther improvement-except in thu
very desirable matter of eheapness-i
likely to be required in the better inean
descent lights that are now coming int
use. The arc lights, with their wilC
tiickering brilliancy, are another mat
ter.
4. Every one knows, but every on
does not always bear in mind, that tn
page one reads should be held steadil,
before the eyes in order to avoid undu
strain on the muscles of accommoda
tion. Not only this, but it is wort
while to form the habit of holding. tn
page so that the top of the page and tn
bottom shall be equidistant from tn
eve. This may seem very minut
precaution, and such it is; yet nothinI
Is trivial which tends to the bette
preservation of the delicate functions
the organ; and the habit is one whic
is easily learned. Reading in the car
isa thing which one would hardly un
.dertake to defend on theory; yet 1t is
practice which is likely to increase ratf
Or than to diminish, especially with tn
increasing smootkness of railway trave
The things to bear in mind are that tn
hook or paper should be held 8
steadily as possible under the circup
Stances: and That in the railway ca
there is double reason for taking ap'
20 think upon what one reads